I’ve been looking for an aviation logbook for the iPod Touch, and not finding anything that is both suitable and inexpensive. Searching the app store for “aviation logbook” or “pilot logbook” finds one that’s $40, and meant as a companion (not a replacement) for a desktop program that costs twice as much, and another one that was about $5 which, after I bought it, turned out to be useless for general aviation. The Palm one I’ve been using for years and years, cost about $12 and does almost everything I could possibly need. I wish it could keep track of my IFR currency automatically, but other than that, it’s pretty nifty.
So unable to find what I wanted, I took the precipitous step and signed up as a registered iPhone developer. I’d been holding off on doing this, because I’ve always thought that my next smart-phone was going to be either an Android (Google) phone or a Palm Pre, and developing for those is a completely different kettle of fish than developing for the iPhone. On the other hand, the Apple Application store is well developed and seems to work well. Now to teach myself Objective C. From what I’ve read so far, it looks like a horrible language – sort of what C++ would have been if it had taken a wrong turn down an alley and gotten mugged by tcl.
One nice thing about ObjC is that it’s a relatively small extension to the C language. Granted, the syntax is… unique, but on the whole it’s nothing like the Lovecraftian rip-your-face-off screaming horror that C++ is.
(Or at least this was the case when last I saw it; I hear some things have changed since, but the basic comparison should still stand.)
I’ll be glad to send you the source for my unfinished to-do list app. When you get your developer certificate, you’ll be able to install it on your phone. (You can even finish the app, if you’d like.)
Objective-C is ugly, I like C, and I like Smalltalk, but merging them was not a good idea.